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Banjo the Woodpile Cat
Banjo the Woodpile Cat is a 1979 Classicaly Animated 27-Minute Short Film directed by Don Bluth and the short film itself follows the story of Banjo, an overly curious and rebellious kitten who, after getting into trouble for falling from a chicken coop to see if he could land on his feet, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners' farm in Payson, Utah by hitching a ride on the Chipman feed truck to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Short Film took four years (from 1975 to 1979) to produce inside a backyard garage at Don Bluth's former home in Ventura, California (before Don currently runs "Don Bluth Films" and lives at his current home in Scottsdale, Arizona) and it was Sullivan Bluth Studios's debut film. It had a short theatrical run in November 1979 (Appearing as a short in front of "The Muppet Movie" (Currently Owned by Walt Disney Pictures after Jim Henson signed Disney's Contract to have his self-named company owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1988) theaters showing the film for a holiday re-release in the Los Angeles area.), tested in 1980 as a TV short on Home Box Office then reached network television on Several "ABC-TV" Stations across The United States of America in 1982. (Same Year when Don Bluth's 1st Animated Independent Feature Film after leaving Walt Disney Productions in September 1978, titled "The Secret of NIMH", with distribution gauranteed by MGM/UA Communications Inc.) Plot Summary In a woodpile in Payson, Utah, A kitten named Banjo decides to chase chickens around. His sisters, Emily and Jean, tell their parents and Banjo's father soon stops him and makes him promise not to do it again. But Banjo continues to be mischievous in many ways. After getting in trouble for jumping off the roof of a chicken coop, Banjo decides to run away from home and hitches a ride on a feed truck to Salt Lake City. In the city, Banjo finds plenty of excitement, followed by a series of danger. When it begins to rain, he finds shelter in a small can in an alley while thinking about his family and how he misses them. Later, a cat named Crazy Legs discovers the lost kitten in the can. They strike up a friendship when Crazy tells Banjo that he can go back the same way he got here. During their search, Crazy and Banjo come to a night club that Crazy is familiar with. Inside, the leader of a singing cat trio, Zazu comes over to Crazy and meets Banjo. When asked if he misses his family, the kitten becomes depressed again. To cheer him up, Crazy and the girls break into a musical number and Banjo joins in. Afterwards, Crazy asks all the cats to look for the truck. Later that night, while searching for the truck, Banjo and Crazy run into a group of dogs who end up chasing them. After a lengthy chase, the pair escape and drive the dogs away by climbing up a series of boxes. The pair arrives at the singing cats' home and get some rest. The next morning, Banjo wakes up and hears the driver of the truck out in the street. After some rejoice and many goodbyes, Banjo is sad to leave his new found friends. However, Crazy manages to get Banjo on board, before it leaves without him and he gives his final farewell. When the truck arrives home, Banjo leaps off it and reunites with his family. Production This film was started as a side project, while Don Bluth was still working at Disney. He invited several other young animators to his house on nights and weekends to discover secrets of animation that he felt had been lost at Disney. Eventually he resigned from Disney, along with 17 other animators, to finish this film and begin The Secret of NIMH. That bold walk-out caused a delay in the release of Disney's The Fox and the Hound that was in mid-production at the time. Voice Talents Rescue Rangers *Tress MacNeille as Chip is the leader of the Rescue Rangers. Loosely modeled after Indiana Jones, Chip wears a fedora and a bomber jacket and frequently uses rope to lasso or swing to other spots. Chip is serious and has a strong sense of responsibility, to the point that he is sometimes accused of not knowing how to have fun. He can be domineering and often ends up in squabbles with Dale over his more laid back manner. At times, though, he also lets himself go and joins Dale in some frivolity. He and Dale have a crush on Gadget. *Corey Burton as Dale is the co-founder of the Rescue Rangers. He wears a red and yellow Hawaiian shirt reminiscent of Thomas Magnum in Magnum, P.I. Though dedicated to the job, he is a fun-loving, mischievous prankster who is sometimes irresponsible and forgets to think before he acts. He spends his free time reading comic books and playing video games. A known candy addict, Dale has "chocolate attacks" similar to Monterey Jack's cheese attacks (ironically, Monty finds it disgusting that Dale can't control himself over candy).He frequently finds himself being knocked on the head by Chip when he says or does something foolish. *Jim Cummings as Monterey Jack, or "Monty" to his friends, is an adventure-loving Australian mouse who spent years traveling the world before a chance meeting with Chip and Dale during their first case. After Fat Cat destroyed his home, Monty and his sidekick Zipper decided to join the group in their detective work. Stronger and larger than the others, Monty can be quick to anger if he, or his friends, has been offended. This trait sometimes leaves him ready to do battle with a much larger opponent, and the others having to calm him down. Monty has an overpowering addiction to cheese, and the sight or smell of cheese causes him to be almost hypnotically drawn to it. Monty loves to tell stories of his travels, even if the others often stop his reminiscing, and he often uses colorful "pseudo-australianisms" while talking, such as "Strike me starkers." Monterey Jack is the only Rescue Ranger known to have two living parents, Cheddarhead Charlie and Camembert Kate, who are also travelers. Also, names of his entire family, including his own, have references to various types of cheese. Monty is most frequently found in the company of either Zipper or Dale, whose fun-loving nature matches his own. He also seems to consider Gadget to be something of a surrogate daughter, most likely due to his long friendship with her late father. Due to his traveling experience, Monty often handles the traveling arrangements for the group *Tress MacNeille as Gadget Hackwrench is a young female mouse and the team's pilot, mechanic and inventor. The daughter of deceased inventor and aviator Geegaw Hackwrench, who was a good friend of Monterey Jack. She first met Chip and Dale when Monty brought them to Geegaw's in search of an airplane. At loose-ends since her father's death and eager to help, she joins the team. Known to say "Golly", whenever she's surprised by something. Gadget moves, thinks, and talks quickly, sometimes leaving the others looking dazed and confused. In addition to building and maintaining the Ranger Plane, Gadget is the one responsible for the various technological items used by the team and is regularly inventing new vehicles and tools for the team's use. She has the uncanny ability to take discarded and unrelated items, and invent nearly anything with them, which she attributes to the fact that she has a "mind-bashingly high IQ" and is easily bored. Unfortunately, her creations don't always work the way she intends and have sometimes failed at just the wrong moment to cause the team trouble. Both Chip and Dale are attracted to Gadget, and often compete for her attention, but she doesn't seem to notice in many cases. However there are hints that she does like Chip. In one of the episodes Chip reveals that she has given him a photograph of herself. *Corey Burton as Zipper is a tiny bluish-green housefly and a long time friend and sidekick of Monterey Jack. With his tiny size and flying abilities, Zipper often handles little jobs that the rest of the Rescue Rangers cannot. He speaks in unintelligible buzzes that only Monty and other insects are able to understand, although in later episodes, he talks more clearly. Despite his tiny size, Zipper occasionally has impressive displays of strength which are matched only by his unwavering loyalty to his friends. Characters of the movie *SPARKY MARCUS as Banjo the Woodpile Cat *KEN SAMSON as Papa Cat (Banjo's Father) *SCATMAN CROTHERS as Crazy Legs *BEAH RICHARDS as Zazu (The Leader of The Cat Sisters (Her 2 Sisters are Cleo and Marina)) Credits *Director: DON BLUTH *Producers: DON BLUTH with JOHN POMEROY and GARY GOLDMAN *Writers: DON and TOBY BLUTH (Both Uncredited) *Assitant Director: JEFFREY C. PATCH (Uncredited) *Character Animation: DON BLUTH (Credited) and JOHN POMEROY (Credited) and GARY GOLDMAN (Credited), PHIL NIBBELINK (Uncredited) and SKIP JONES (Credited as an Assistant Animator) *Additional Animators and Assistant Animators: LORNA COOK-POMEROY and HEIDI GUEDEL, LINDA MILLER and EMILY JUILIANO, DAVE SPAFFORD and SALLY VOORHEIS, DIANN LANDAU and VERA PACHECO (Credited as VERA LAW) *Xerographic Process Operator: JOHN EDDINGS (Uncredited) *Xerox Checker and Cel Inker: DARYL CARTENSEN (Uncredited) *Assistant Xerox Checker and Assistant Cel Inker: JOHN POMEROY (Uncredited) *Cel Painter: TINA PRICE (Uncredited) - NOTE: The Other Cel Painters are Listed in the "Special Thanks To..." Section of the Credits) *Animation Camera Operator: ROB MAINE (Uncredited) *Packaging Agent: STEPHEN L. PINKS (Uncredited) *Music Conductor and Arrangement: ROBERT F. BRUNNER *Orchestra Manager: MICHAEL DVORAK *Additional Orchestrator: ROBERT HAMMACK (Credited as BOBBY HAMMACK) *Film Editing: SAM HORTA *Sound: RYDER SOUND SERVICES *Special Thanks To: DAN MOLINA and NANCY BARNES, JOAN BARNES and DAVID MOLINA, (Credited as DAVE MOLINA) JANET BRUCE and WILL FINN, JOE JUILIANO, DAN KUENSTER and CINDY FINN, (Credited as CINDY CHILKO) SUE EVANS and JEFFRY C. PATCH, (Credited as JEFFRY PATCH) DAVE SMITH and JULIE SPAFFORD, SHIRLEY SPAFFORD and DAVID PETTIJOHN, (Credited as DAVE PETTIJOHN) CHARLES G. WILSON and ANN NEALE, (Credited as ANNE NEALE) OLGA TARIN-CRAIG (Credited as OLGA CRAIG) and JAMES MacDONALD, CHUCK WARREN and EDNA HARTLING, SARAH-JANE KING (Credited as SARAH KING) and MEL GRIFFIN, MARY BURNEY and CARMEN OLIVER, MIRIAM C. McKINNEY and CAROLINE PFOUTS, CARALYN WARREN and ELLEN DAVIS, CATHY DREYFUS and JERI VAN OSTEN *Animation Camera Stand Engineering: FAX-RICHARDSON ANIMATION COMPANY INC. (Uncredited) *Classical Animation Equipment Suppliers: FAX-RICHARDSON ANIMATION COMPANY INC., (Uncredited) CARTOON COLOUR COMPANY INC. (Uncredited) and ART COLOR PRODUCTS (Uncredited) *Film Editing Equipment Suppliers: MOVIOLA INC. (Uncredited) *Produced by DON BLUTH PRODUCTIONS INC. *Color by TECHNICOLOR *Prints by DE LUXE (Uncredited) *Produced on EASTMAN KODAK MOTION PICTURE FILM (Uncredited) Remake Tom and Jerry: Banjo the Woodpile Cat is a remake of a short film. Category:Don Bluth films Category:Movies Category:Non-Disney films Category:Short films